Keys Of The Gradon
by TheNextDahl
Summary: S6:E2 When Sky hears a story about a dragon in the sewers, she decides to investigate the manhole near her house. Little did she know that she was the final key to the legendary Gradon's release...
1. Part One

THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: KEYS OF THE GRADON- PART ONE

It was just another average History lesson for Sky Smith, whom was bored out of her wits. Her class were studying Greek mythology, and the clock had decided to pull a 'hare and the tortoise'. They had looked at five separate stories so far, each one more boring that the last. Her teacher was jotting notes on the whiteboard. She turned around and began on another story. When the bell finally rang for the end of the day, Sky left the classroom and sprinted to catch up with her friends. She walked home with one called Bethany, whom began conversation immediately.

"My brother told me one of those mythology things before. It was about a dragon thing, the Gradon it was called, living in a sewer in Ealing it was. I wonder, hey, I wonder." Bethany walked off, and Sky was puzzled. She'd had heard tales in school before. Legendary myths of damsels in distress and knights, but this one was like no other. She knew some mythology was true, after all she'd met a Greek god before .She went home and asked Mr Smith about it.

"Mr Smith, what can you tell me about the Gradon?" Sky asked inquisitively.

"The Gradon is an ancient tale of a dragon which has been told in Ealing for centuries. In this tale, a dragon hunts Ealing at night in search of the keys to it's freedom, which are believed to be people chosen especially by the Gradom's worst enemy. Once the Gradon has found it's keys, it can finally be free to wreck havoc. There is believed to be thirteen keys, and over time there has been twelve found. The Gradon is closer to release, and is believed to be at it's strongest since the dark times. Of course, Sky, it's just a silly tale and no evidence had ever been revealed that states the story of the Gradon is true." Mr Smith reassured Sky, worrying he was scaring her with the story.

"Oh." Sky hesitated. "Where does the Gradon live in the story?"

"Well…" Mr Smith paused, "Legend says the Gradon lives under the manhole, right here in Bannerman Road."

"You mean the one outside our house!" Sky cried. Before Mr Smith could re-assure her once again, she ran to her room, panicking. She kept pulling back her curtains and staring at the manhole. But could she really risk believing that there was something down there, with the chances of it all being fake? And after it, it must be fake, if Mr Smith says it's fake then it's definitely fake without a doubt. But she couldn't help that feeling of knots in her stomach every time she thought about it. She went into Luke's room for advice. He was sat on his bed, his nose in one of many books, entitled _The U.N.I.T. Files. _Luke was on volume six, and had only been in his room for ten minutes!

"Luke." Sky murmured. "I've heard the story of the Gradon. Is it really out there, down beneath the manhole?" Luke began to shout viciously;

"No! There's nothing there! Don't you, don't you dare go down there! Stay away from that manhole!" Sky's eyes welled up with tears and she ran to her room. Luke worried he'd been a little to hard on her, but he had his reasons. He and Sarah Jane knew the truth, they knew the whole tale.

But Sky wasn't going to be put off by a few harsh words by her big brother, so that night, she snook out of the house and went out to the manhole. She squinted her eyes and looked down the grid. Was that a silhouette? She needed a closer look. She had a backpack full of supplies, from which she removed a torch. She needed great force to open the manhole cover, and once she had eventually pulled it up she turned on the torch and shone it into the deep darkness below. There was a ladder at the side on the wall which she started climbing down. It was tough work. She was almost halfway until a growl in the distance scared her and caused her to fall off the ladder. She hit the ground violently. The ladder fell with her. She looked up and saw she was trapped about twenty meters underground. A figure appeared behind her. It was humanoid-shaped with a large fin on it's head. It clutched her tightly. She let out an ear-splitting scream before being knocked unconscious…

When Sarah went in to Sky's bedroom the next morning, she was horrified to find her bed empty. She was frantic, practically tearing up the house looking for her, fearing the worst, thinking she was going to find her daughter's dead body. Luke soon discovered her whereabouts as he opened the curtains and saw the open manhole cover. Sick with panic, he told Sarah Jane he was going out to look for her, however he went straight to the manhole. He leaned over desperately

"Sky? Sky? Are you there?" Luke bellowed. There was no response, so he followed his instincts and prepared to go down there. Realising there was no ladder, he pushed his limbs against the walls and slid down slowly. It was a great plan until the walls extended and he went crashing to the ground. He arose immediately, and kept shouting Sky, walking along the sewer pavement. He could hear a deep voice, sickening and stomach children, making an announcement. As he moved closer, the voice got louder. He came to a dead end, but he could definitely hear a clear voice from the other side. He did the only thing he could. He walked into it, and to his surprise, he walked straight through it. He emerged in a room with a stage. He dived behind a chair. He could now see the voice's owner. It was a fish like man, a brownie-red colour, dressed quite smartly with a huge fin across it's head. Luke recognised it, he'd read all about them in _A Guide To The Extraterrestrial Species during his U.N.I.T. training. It was a Blowfish._

"_My master, it is wonderful news, a miracle if I may say. I found the thirteenth key to your freedom lurking round in the sewers. A human girl. You are almost free my master, you will be free!" Luke's brain almost overloaded. Sky was the thirteenth key, she'd been captured and the Gradon was going to be freed…_


	2. Part Two

THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: KEYS OF THE GRADON- PART TWO

Sky was flung into a cell with the twelve other keys. There was Venicia, a Vinvocci, Styx the Sontaran, Ashme the Cheetah Person, Pharos the Axon, Ellesmere the Blathereen, Ador and Galaxor the Trees of Cheem, Sabre the Silurian, Gantor the Judoon, Amishe the Terileptil, Kasha the Blowfish and Mitzvah the Fleshkind. All of them had been individually captured by the blowfish, apart from Ador and Galaxor, whom were captured together. Ellesmere was captured first, and he'd been imprisoned for almost four hundred years. None of them died because the prison cell revived them every time the reached the end of their life. Even over this period of time, the had been no escapes. None of them had dared try. Sky, however, wasn't a foolish child, and was soon devising a plan to escape and to save themselves from whatever the Gradon was planning to do to them to gain it's freedom. Sky retrieved a compass from her bag and began drawing out their plan. A few hours later, they begun. Ellesmere began screaming, clutching the bars of the cage. The blowfish approached him cruelly.

"Silence you fat orange oaf!" He bellowed.

"Oh but my stomach, it hurts, so much!" Ellesmere pleaded.

"You've probably eaten to much!" The blowfish remarked.

"Oh but at least check you can feel my heartbeat!" Ellesmere insisted. The blowfish, feeling he had no other choice and fearing that his master would punish him, checked Ellesmere's heartbeat. Meanwhile, Ellesmere's clawed hand snook out of the bars, round the blowfish, and to the keys attached to it's belt. It then snook back in to the cage and behind Ellesmere's back. He hung it on his tail, then put his arm back on the bar, just as the blowfish's head rose.

"You seem okay to me." It muttered then walked away. There was a victory cheer from the cell. They had the key, and they could have the freedom instead of the Gradon. None of their arms could reach the lock, but they were rescued by a familiar face.

"Luke!" Sky exclaimed. Her big brother was stood outside the cell, looking bewildered. Sky passed him the key through the lock and without saying a word, Luke unlocked the cage. Sky went running into his arms and went into a tight hug. He observed the other keys thoroughly.

"Come on!" He whispered. "We have to run! I've knocked the blowfish out, we should be safe, we just have to find our way back to the sewer!" But before he could say any more, the thirteen of them disappeared. The Gradon let out a cackle in the distance. Luke ran down the corridor and peeked round a wall to see the thirteen keys, each in a tube, inanimate. There were wires all over their bodies. Their heads were tilted back and their mouths were wide open in what looked like a scream. Fear shot through Luke's body as he began thinking worst case scenario. The Gradon was tapping away at a computer-like machine. Luke was reading it. He felt an ease in his fear as the screen read; EXTRACTING GENES. Luke thought this meant that each one had a gene inside them, and the Gradon had to extract that gene to be free. Sky would then be safe. Or would she? The Gradon pulled a lever and what looked like electric shot through Ashme's body. She screamed. She was supposed to be unconscious and she was in such pain she creamed. He did this one by one, Venicia, Gantor, Pharos and Kasha. However, before he could continue, Luke took action. He ran out from behind the wall and began to shout.

"Leave them alone you sick reptilian oaf!" He screamed. The Gradon turned it's hideous face around to see Luke.

"Ah, a little knight in shining armour? I see. Here to save your little friends. Or is it just the girl? Ah, that's right, your sister, isn't she?" A sick grin distorted his face. Luke felt helpless now, defenceless against the Gradon's horror. A mysterious force pushed him to his knees. He found himself kneeling before the Gradon. Praising it like a master. The Gradon pulled the lever with full force and the genes were extracted one by one automatically. The Gradon's power was getting stronger, and Luke was getting weaker…

A dark shadow began to materialise over Ealing. It was Rani who noticed it first. She immediately went into full panic mode, and she and Clyde ran straight over to alert Sarah Jane, whom was soon on the seen. After a few seconds, the shadow began to form the shape of a dragon.

"No. Surely not." Sarah Jane whispered fearfully.

"It's that thing isn't it! From that story! The Gradon!" Clyde exclaimed. There was no answer from anyone, they were all stood looking up at the sky, startled. There eyes were fixed on the shadow like a magnetic attraction. It was all up to Luke to save the world now…

The genes were stored in a transparent barrel. Luke would've captured it, however, not only was the Gradon taking the keys' power, it was also taking Luke's. He slowly crawled along the floor using all his might. He was almost at the barrel, until something stopped him completely in his tracks. The scream of his little sister.

He looked up and saw Sky's face twisted in pain. Her scream pierced Luke's heart and filled him with upset. But it also filled him with something else. Determination. Determination to save her, to save the keys, determination to stop the Gradon. Slowly but heroically, he reached the vat and pulled it from the pipe sucking the life out of the keys. Thirteen loud breaths sounded, a bright light filled the room…

Luke awoke in his bed. He stumbled down the stairs and found a group of aliens in his living room. The keys. He'd caught them in the middle of a conversation.

"Well we could really do with you as a back up? After all you seem very adventurous, just like us!" Sarah Jane stated.

"Well that's settled!" Mitzvah decided, "The twelve of us shall form an alliance and we shall help you at your very wish, Miss Smith. We shall keep the vat of genes to free the Gradon with us at all times. Thank you again for your help, Luke!"

"You're welcome. I hope you're all successful. Keep the vat safe!" Luke said.

"We will." They replied simultaneously. Then they vanished, and Sarah Jane wondered if she'd ever see them again.


End file.
